Even a tiny shortfall in Iranian contemporary art could become an audience-driving factor in the world stage. That's according to Alireza Sami Azar, who stopped directing feature films and writing screenplays while on top at an early age so he could study his PhD in architecture in England.
The man who helped market Iranian contemporary art in international auctions says the art faces major difficulties, yet despite the shortages, it still ranks first in the region. More on that in the following:
When did you decide that art was the place you wanted to be? Many still know you as manager of the Niavaran Cultural House and the Contemporary Arts Museum.
-I began my studies after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The breakthrough came when I began cooperating with the Contemporary Arts Faculty at the University of Jihad for six years. My biggest achievement was when I organized for the first time the Student Theater Festival. I worked with the Culture Ministry, more specifically, as managing director of the Niavaran Cultural House and the Center for Art Studies. Since the center was located at the House, I was automatically chosen to be in charge of its activities as well.
Was it natural for you to be in charge of such an important center at such a young age?
It was a trend at the time to allow the younger generation take top positions. It was a revolutionary period and not many understand it today. It was the right thing to do if you ask me. I was not alone.
What was your next move?
-I studied architecture, but I was also interested in theater and cinema. I attended some training workshops prior to the revolution. We used to make 8 mm movies in the class. We used to process our films with confidence. We were trained in the handling of small format film, benefiting from the expertise of those in the business. It was true magic. Later I got the chance to work on two feature films as assistant director and art director.
What were they?
Silk Chains and Red Wind, directed by Jamshid Malekpour. I was assistant director and production manager. Red Wind, produced by the University of Jihad, was never released. We only had it screened in international film festivals.
What was your next move?
-I wrote and directed my own movie The June 5th Flight. The cast included Atila Pesyani, Majid Jafari, Naser Aqaei, Tania Johari and several others who came from a theater background. The University of Jihad produced four more films, including All the Earth’s Temptations by Hamid Samandarian plus two others by Jafar Vaali and Hossein Mokhtari. They were the first and last films of their directors. I would like to thank Ali Montazeri for making our dreams come true.
What was the budget for The June 5th Flight?
In today’s market rate, it was over $4,000, including the distribution costs. It opened in several movie theaters, eventually grossing over $10,000 at the box office. Ticket prices were just about 10 tomans or $2.5 in today’s rate.
You had the chance to stay and make more movies. Why did this never happen?
I had to study for my PhD. I left the industry while on top and never thought it was a mistake. I returned home after finishing my studies in 1997.
Why did you decide to work in a field other than architecture?
It was never the plan. I began working at the Visual Arts Faculty of Tehran University as manager of an art research group for seven years. My next move was to work at the Contemporary Arts Museum. Not everyone was in love with the museum at the time. It had no interaction with the outside world and had been left to its own devices for years. It was way behind its time. So we began organizing national biennials and international exhibitions to catch up with times. In the end, our efforts paid off.
You also translate and write books on visual arts.
It helps create awareness about major artistic movements in the world. Our universities and art centers are not doing that much to stay up-to-date. They are stuck in the past. We are more concerned about our detachment from the past than staying behind from current affairs. I’m not in love with modernity. My only concern is a permanent detachment between art and modern life. Contemporary art should connect us with here and now. The West began doing that in the 1960s. This is yet to be the case in Iran. My hope is that what I write and translate could help our fans and artists to make that much-needed connection with the contemporary world.
In your book, The Rise and Fall of Modernism, you delve into artistic developments after the war.
The book is based on a historical hypothesis, where modernism has reached its end and as far as art is concerned, we are living in post-modernism. Some books see this as the end, while others see it as the beginning. I think this could be for the current situation in Iran. I talk about the fall of modernism but never see it as certain fate. I talk about its rise and magnificent past, then explain why it fell and why it was replaced by the Avant-Garde.
What other subjects are you working on?
The third edition of my book discusses Pop Art. As you know, Pop Art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and the late 1950s in the United States. Among the early artists that shaped the Pop Art movement were Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton in Britain, and Larry Rivers and Robert Rauschenberg in the United States.
We also had other movements at the end of the 20th century such as Feminism that affected immensely the contemporary art and became a source of inspiration for those who were not feminist at all. In the 1980s we saw the return of Avant-Garde with Post-Modernism touches. As you know, the Avant-Garde ("advance guard" or "vanguard") are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox, with respect to art, culture and society.
Classical painting originated from Berlin, Rome and London, introducing prominent artists to the world. These are just some of the chapters in my third book. They are all rooted in the 1960s movement, mainly Conceptual Art (in which the concepts or ideas involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns), Pop Art, and Minimal Art, which emerged in New York in the early 1960s as new and older artists moved toward geometric abstraction; exploring via painting.
For well over a decade, whatever has happened for visual art in Iran, carries with it your name. You have been behind the contemporary movement for years. Many see you as the reason behind its recent successes. How do you see it yourself?
It is up to others to judge my efforts. I did some works for the movement that helped contemporize Iranian art. Even the assumption that we have contemporary art with a new medium and an understanding about modern painting, it helps to push the movement forward. It helps to contemporize Iranian art. I was there behind the scene, but how much was its success because of me, that has to be said by others.
This includes all the efforts that I have put in place to market Iranian art which was never the case few years ago. We now have an art and a market, where Iranian artworks and artists are taking part in international auctions and compete with others with major gains. Iranian art has seen a significant rise in its price tag and value in recent years. This success has come in the wake of historic decisions made by our cultural officials as well as nonstop efforts by many others behind the scene.
Translation by Bobby Naderi